Where these eadier inhal:)itants, whose wigwams occupied the terrace that l)eeame the site of old Catskill, betook themselves, is not recorded. The subsequent Indian troubles, which this ])lace shared with other river towns, were due to conflict with other tribes. The most tragic stories of Indian atrocities are of Revolutionary date. The fierce Mohawks, acting as allies with the British, and aided l^y Tories who were scattered throughout the countr\', swoojjcd down upon solitary farmhouses and ca])tured the inmates, taking them by arduous forest ways to Canada, where a reward was paid for each ])risoner. It seems almost incredible that a party of twenty or more redskins, with possibly several white men, would undertake a toilsome journey of hundreds of miles, on foot, through a wilderness, where hunger often assailed them, for the sake of one or two miserable farmer ca])ti\'es, usually boys or old men. Yet such Vv^as the fact. One of the best known of local stones is that of the cajjtivity of the Abeels -- David Abeel and Anthony his son. These people lived in a house about three miles back of Catskill. The father, who was old, had l)cen an Indian trader and understood the Mohawk tongue. When seated at their noonday meal one Sunday, the family was surprised by the sudden entrance of a number of Indians, led by a white man, painted and disguised, but recognised by the sharp eyes of the old Indian trader, who thoughtlessly called him by name.

492 The Hudson River